Parallels VM on older machines

[originaldotexe]

Does anyone know how to run Parallels on older machines like the 2008 Mac Pro? Normally when you run it, it gives some kind of error to do with CPU instruction set support or something like that. I know the older version worked because I used it in 2018 or so, but I would like to run the latest one if possible.

 

[eyoungren]

I'm using version 14.4.1. Works just fine on my 2009 MacPro.

 

[originaldotexe]

I'm using version 14.4.1. Works just fine on my 2009 MacPro.

View attachment 1833478

i will try it, i believe that was the version i used back in 2018.
i think the missing instruction that the latest version needs is probably sse4,2 which the core 2 based chips in my system dont have, although your system probably does.

 

[joevt]

Does anyone know how to run Parallels on older machines like the 2008 Mac Pro? Normally when you run it, it gives some kind of error to do with CPU instruction set support or something like that. I know the older version worked because I used it in 2018 or so, but I would like to run the latest one if possible.

What version of Parallels? I'm using the latest version 17 on my Mac Pro 2008.

What host OS? Parallels VM performance tanked after Mojave 10.14.3 on my Mac Pro 2008 but is fine on my Mac mini 2018. Even on my Mac Pro 2008 in Catalina, I can use Parallels for UEFI testing. My Windows 7 VM is too slow while using Mojave 10.14.4 or later (the Parallels VM CPU Usage is pegged at 100% while doing disk access or something) but it does work (but it take hours to complete Parallels Tools Installation - it is unusable).

What guest OS?

Is the error from Parallels or from the guest OS?

 

[originaldotexe]

What version of Parallels? I'm using the latest version 17 on my Mac Pro 2008.

What host OS? Parallels VM performance tanked after Mojave 10.14.3 on my Mac Pro 2008 but is fine on my Mac mini 2018. Even on my Mac Pro 2008 in Catalina, I can use Parallels for UEFI testing. My Windows 7 VM is too slow while using Mojave 10.14.4 or later (the Parallels VM CPU Usage is pegged at 100% while doing disk access or something) but it does work (but it take hours to complete Parallels Tools Installation - it is unusable).

What guest OS?

Is the error from Parallels or from the guest OS?

i believe it's an issue with big sur specifically, the error is something about failing to load a kernel driver. i actually downgraded my machine to mavericks last night and am now using parallels 10 and it works just fine.

 

[vorob]

I've downloaded Parallels Desktop 9 for my MBP 1211 (c2d, ati x1600). Installed Win XP, no issues. But i can't run games for some reason. Parallels installed all the drivers, no errors in device manager, but still i get this:

Maybe i need to do smth else? Or this parallels is too new for my hardware and they don't bother with proper gpu passthrough?

 

[Amethyst1]

Parallels Desktop doesn’t do GPU passthrough. You need Parallels Workstation Extreme for that, which isn't available for macOS.

 

[vorob]

Anyway people play games with it, I’m trying to understand what’s wrong here.

 

[Amethyst1]

Anyway people play games with it, I’m trying to understand what’s wrong here.

Is 3D acceleration enabled in the VM's settings?

Open the temporary files folder (Start > Run > enter %temp%) and see if you can find any logs that were created by the installer. Check these for more detailed error messages. It's possible the installer runs some checks that Parallels' virtualised GPU can't handle, or maybe it just simply checks for a supported ATI/NVIDIA/... GPU and fails because it can't find one.